When are Galungan and Kuningan in Bali, and what should visitors know?

Galungan and Kuningan dates

Galungan falls on Rabu Kliwon Dungulan, a Wednesday in the pawukon, Bali's 210-day ceremonial calendar, so its Gregorian date moves by 210 days each time. Kuningan is always the Saturday ten days later.

• Galungan: Wednesday 13 January 2027 and Wednesday 11 August 2027.

• Kuningan: Saturday 23 January 2027 and Saturday 21 August 2027.

• Penampahan Galungan (eve): Tuesday 12 January and Tuesday 10 August 2027.

• Umanis Galungan (day after): Thursday 14 January and Thursday 12 August 2027.

How these were checked: Bali's governor set the 2025 dates (Galungan 23 April and 19 November 2025) in Circular No. 16 of 2024, as reported by detik. Counting forward in 210-day steps gives 17 June 2026, then 13 January and 11 August 2027, which matches the Nusa Penida tourism calendar and Honeycombers Bali. The governor's circular for 2027 had not been published when we checked, so treat the eve and day-after dates as calendar-derived. The same count puts the following Galungan on Wednesday 8 March 2028.

A few travel pages list Galungan in June 2027. That is the 2026 date (17 June 2026, Kuningan 27 June) carried over by mistake. Our Asia festival calendar for 2027 and best time to visit Bali use the January and August dates.

What Galungan and Kuningan mean

Galungan celebrates the victory of dharma (good) over adharma (evil). Balinese Hindus believe ancestral spirits return to their family homes for the ten days, and Kuningan marks their departure, when families make final offerings including yellow rice (nasi kuning, which is where the name Kuningan is often traced).

The run-up is busy. On Penampahan, the day before Galungan, families slaughter pigs and chickens and cook for the feast, and offerings are prepared. On Galungan itself, families pray first at the family temple and then at village temples, dressed in their best ceremonial clothes. Umanis Galungan, the day after, is commonly a day for visiting relatives.

Penjor are what visitors notice first: tall, curved bamboo poles, up to several metres high, decorated with woven young coconut leaves, rice, fruit and flowers, put up outside house entrances at the start of Galungan. According to Honeycombers Bali, they represent the mountains, particularly Gunung Agung, and gratitude for nature's abundance. Village streets in Ubud, Sidemen and Munduk become arches of them. They stay up for weeks after Kuningan.

What is open and what closes

Galungan is not an Indonesian national holiday, and Bali does not shut down the way it does for Nyepi. The airport, hotels and most tourist businesses run normally.

• Government offices and schools: Bali's provincial government gives Hindu civil servants and schools days off around Galungan and Kuningan under the governor's annual circular. Expect government counters to be closed or short-staffed on Galungan and the day either side.

• Banks: some branches close or shorten hours. ATMs work as normal.

• Restaurants, cafés, shops: tourist-facing places in Seminyak, Canggu, Ubud and the south mostly stay open. Locally owned warungs, small shops and family-run guesthouse kitchens may close on Galungan day itself; call ahead if you have a booking.

• Drivers and guides: many Balinese staff take time off to be with their families. Book a driver early and expect fewer last-minute options.

• Temples: some are busier than usual, and some areas close to visitors during ceremonies.

• Traffic: roads near large temples back up on ceremony days, and processions can stop traffic in villages.

Temple etiquette during Galungan

Temples are working places of worship, and at Galungan they are at their busiest. The usual rules apply with more people watching:

• Sarong and sash: cover your legs with a sarong (kamen) and tie a sash (selendang) around your waist. Shoulders should be covered. Big temples rent or lend them at the gate, but bringing your own is simpler; our what to wear in Bali guide has more.

• Inner courtyards: Bali's 2025 governor's circular on conduct for foreign tourists (No. 7 of 2025) bars visitors from the inner and middle courtyards (utamaning mandala and madyaning mandala) except to pray, and then only in Balinese ceremonial dress and not while menstruating.

• Menstruation: Balinese Hindu practice holds that a menstruating woman should not enter a temple, and many temples post this at the gate. It is a long-standing religious rule rather than a tourist rule, and visitors are expected to follow it on trust.

• Offerings: step around the small offerings (canang sari) on pavements and steps; never step over or on them.

• Height and position: never stand higher than the priest or climb on shrines and walls, and do not walk in front of people praying.

• Photos: ask before photographing anyone in prayer, keep a respectful distance, no flash, and no drones over temples.

• Processions: if a procession comes along the road, pull over and wait. Do not walk through it.

Our Bali temple etiquette guide and Vietnam and Bali temple dress codes go into each rule in more detail.

Planning a trip around Galungan

• Where to see penjor: Ubud and the villages around it are the easiest base; our where to stay in Ubud and Ubud guide cover the area. Quieter villages such as Sidemen and Munduk are on our 18-day Bali route.

• Best times to look: early morning on Galungan, when families walk to temple, and the days after, when the streets are quieter but the penjor are still up.

• Weather: January is the wet season, with heavy afternoon showers; August is dry season and peak tourist month. See best time to visit Bali.

• Be a guest, not an audience: the ceremonies are family and village rites. Watching quietly from the roadside is fine; joining in is not something to ask for unless a Balinese host invites you.

• Food: Penampahan is the day lawar and babi guling are made in quantity. Our what to eat in Bali guide explains the dishes.

Frequently asked questions